Page:History of Southeast Missouri 1912 Volume 1.djvu/716

 630 HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI tives respectively of Lancaster and Essex counties of the Old Dominion. He was elected to the bench in 1910 and assumed the duties of his high office in January of the ensuing year. His reputation as one of the prominent lawyers of Dunklin county has been reinforced with the passing years, dur- ing which he has appeared in connection with many of the important cases brought before the state and federal courts, and his standing has been stamped with approval by his elevation to the bench. Judge Walker was born at Tappahannock, Virginia, August 22, 1859. After finishing his public school course in his native town he entered William and Mai-y College, from which he was graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Arts in 1877. He next took up the study of law at the University of Vir- ginia and received the degree of Bachelor of Laws in 1880. He practiced law in the Old Dominion, the scene of his first professional labors being in his native county, and in 1889 he came to Dunklin county, where he has ever since remained and where his life and achievements have amply recommended him. For four or five years he was in prac- tice with H. N. Phillips, now of Poplar Bluff, and subsequently he entered into partner- ship in the practice of the law with D. R. Cox, of Maiden, this association continuing throughout the decade included between the years 1897 and 1907. From 1901 to 1905 he was prosecuting attorney of the county, be- ing twice elected to the office without oppo- sition. His tenure of office in that capacity was thus of four years' duration. In 1910 he was elected circuit judge, as previously mentioned, and he has already had opportu- nity to prove that the choice of the people was by no means at fault. In his political convictions Judge Walker is a Democrat, and he has ever been very loyal in his sup- port of the principles and policies for which the party stands. Judge Walker stands high in Masonry, be- longing to the Blue Lodge and Chapter, and lives up to the fine ideals which the ancient and august order teaches. He holds mem- bership in the Knights of Pythias and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He is a member of the Missionary Baptist church in Kennett. Judge Walker was first married in 1891, to Marion B. Phillips, the daughter of Colonel H. N. Phillips. She died after five years of married life, leaving one daughter. Rose M. In 1900 he married Miss Belle McCarroll. She became the mother of one son, Heniy, and died in 1904. Judge Walker is a quiet, unassuming stu- dent of the law. He is slow to form opinions, but when he has become sure of his ground he acts accordingly and nothing can make him swerve from the right as he sees it. Oba H.iLEY, M. D. For the 'past thirty- five years Dr. Oba Haley has been engaged in the practice of medicine and for at least a quarter of a century he has maintained his professional headquarters at Fredericktown, ^Missouri, where he controls a large and rep- resentative patronage and where he is hon- ored and esteemed by all with whom he has come in contact. The years have told the story of a successful career due to the pos- session of innate talent and acquired ability along the line of one of the most important professions to which man may devote his energies, — the alleviation of pain and suf- fering and the restoration of health, which is man's most cherished and priceless pos- session. This is an age of progress in all lines of achievement and Dr. Haley has kept abreast of the advancement that has revolu- tionized methods of medical and surgical practice, rendering the efforts of physicians of much more avail in warding off the in- roads of disease than they were even at the time when he entered upon his professional cai-eer. Dr. Haley was born at Steeleville, in Crawford county, Missouri, on the 25th of November. 1847, and he is a son of Henry and Emma (Key) Haley, the former of whom was born in Tennessee and the latter of whom claimed Steeleville, Missouri, as the place of her birth. The father was reared to maturity in the vicinity of McMinnville, Tennessee, and as a young man came to Crawford county, this state, where was sol- emnized his marriage to Miss Emma Key and where he passed the greater part of his active career as a farmer and stockman. William Haley, grandfather of the Doctor, was likewise a farmer by occupation and he came to Crawford county, JMissouri, in the latter '40s. His father was a soldier in the English army and he served as such in the war of the Revolution. During that conflict he was captured and imprisoned in the United States and at the close of the war he